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Dolores Claiborne
1995 132 min United States of America R 16+
★7.6
Crime, Drama, Mystery
Director: Taylor Hackford
🎭 Based on
«Dolores Claiborne»
byStephen King
Trailers
EN
EN
Description
Dolores Claiborne was accused of killing her abusive husband twenty years ago, but the court's findings were inconclusive and she was allowed to walk free. Now she has been accused of killing her employer, Vera Donovan, and this time there is a witness who can place her at the scene of the crime. Things look bad for Dolores when her daughter Selena, a successful Manhattan magazine writer, returns to cover the story.
Budget:
$13M
US Gross:
$24.36M
Worldwide:
$46.4M
Starring
Kathy Bates
Actor
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Actor
Christopher Plummer
Actor
Awards
Saturn Awards 1996
— Best Actress
Saturn Awards 1996
— Best Supporting Actress
Saturn Awards 1996
— Best Original Score
Key opinion
Dolores Claiborne is widely regarded as a standout Stephen King adaptation, praised for its mature psychological depth and powerful emotional core. While most critics laud the performances and atmospheric direction, some find the pacing uneven and the structural deviations from the source material contentious.
| Acting | Kathy Bates delivers a commanding and multi-layered performance that ranks among the best in her career. | |
| Cinematography | The film effectively uses contrasting visual palettes—warm flashbacks versus cold present-day tones—to mirror the psychological state of the characters. | |
| Adaptation | The adaptation successfully distills King’s complex source material into an emotionally resonant drama about trauma and female resilience. | |
| Pacing | The film's pacing is polarizing; some viewers find the deliberate, contemplative tempo immersive, while others view it as monotonous or dragging. | |
| Screenplay | Opinions on the screenplay are divided: some appreciate the structural shifts to a dual-timeline narrative, while others feel it sacrifices depth, simplifies the mother-daughter dynamic, or rushes key character arcs. |